


Butterfly

by Lyra_Dhani



Series: Dream [2]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Disturbing Themes, Gen, Illusions, Mindscrew, Protective Siblings, Short, Short One Shot, Sleepwalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:27:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyra_Dhani/pseuds/Lyra_Dhani
Summary: “Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?”A summer short featuring undiagnosed split personality disorder, apparent sleepwalking, haunted bedroom, and vivid illusions.(Or, in which the effect of converging two worlds together is affecting the other side too.)
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Series: Dream [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658728
Comments: 13
Kudos: 37





	Butterfly

**Author's Note:**

> You have to read the first part to understand this but I don't think it will make much difference anyway

That summer, everything went wrong. They couldn’t pinpoint when it started, but one day Leo looked up and complained that the sewer was too dark, and maybe it was already too late then.

He talked things unheard of, made circles in the air with his sword like it would do something magical, and he looked at his brothers like they were strangers. He made dry jokes and smiled and just-

“Where’s Splinter?”

“He’s dead, Leo,” his brother answered patiently, for the tenth time that day.

.

.

They had to restrain Mikey with chain. He’d wandered off alone otherwise. One time he ended up lost in the wood, like, in the middle of nowhere, and Donnie had to hack the whole city to look for him. Leo found him sleeping blissfully under a giant tree.

When Mikey woke up, he cried to his brothers and begged for them to let him go and Raph had looked up at the ceiling with a defeated expession in his face.

“Please, I want to go outside,” Mikey said, sobbing and broken. The chain kept rattling because he never sit still.

.

.

Donnie couldn’t sleep. The bags under his eyes were getting heaver and uglier each day, it was hurt to look at.

_A ghost_ , he claimed. A ghost was watching him. It should sound silly but he looked possessed as he said it. Leo believed him. Raph offered to sleep together, but it didn’t matter. Donnie still felt like he was being watched every night.

“I hear voices too,” he said.

“What did they say?”

“They’re screaming.”

“They sound like you, Mikey,” a choke. “And they sound like Raph and Leo too, sometimes.”

.

.

Raph watched the world burn. He saw the flame consumed everything, including his brothers. He laughed, his palms covering his face. “I am going crazy.”

Donnie’s laugh sounded harsh beside him. “Yeah, who ever said that any of us still sane anyway?”

.

.

“Are you guys going to be okay?” April asked, gentle.

The brothers glanced at each other and smiled. “We will.”

It was summer and Leo hadn’t dreamed of that laughter-filled sewer for a long time.

.


End file.
